Learning Java: Best Courses, Certifications & Training

Learning Java is a key step in becoming a developer, creating applications, and advancing your career. But with all the courses available online, it’s hard to know which ones will give you the most bang for your buck.

So in this article we’ve analyized the top training courses on the best platforms to give you the most efficient and cost-effective path to learn java programming.

You probably already know that Java is not just another programming language. There are a lot of special things about the Java programming language. First of all, Java contains extensive libraries so that when you install Java or JDK, it comes with approximately 2,500 classes that can be used to do a variety of things.

You can use Java to create web applications as well as desktop applications. In some ways it looks like C++, while on the inside it is more like Smalltalk. However, you do not need to know either C++ or Smalltalk to follow along on any Java course. You can also check out some of the best Javascript online classes.

Best Java Courses and Certifications of 2020

1. Java Programming Masterclass For Software Developers

This course is created by Tim Buchalka, a software developer with over 35 years’ experience. He is as well an educator on Udemy with many students enrolled in his courses. His expertise has gained him an almost 5-star rating, with over 467, 000 students in his courses on Java, Python, Android, C# and the Java Spring system. Tim has trained numerous people how to program, way more than a typical IT professor at a college does in a lifetime.

Tim’s Java, Android, and Python courses on Udemy are of the highest quality as reviewed by his students. Thousands have left glowing reviews, and many have gone on to full-time jobs, or consulting/freelancing opportunities after completing one of his courses.

In this course you will learn Java skills enabling you to apply for a Java developer positions. It is mainly geared to helping you position yourself right in order to be employable.

Do you want to dive into the Java Spring Framework, Java EE or Android development?

Apart from that he also covers the Oracle Java Certification exam and how to pass it.

Who Should Take This Course?

This is for you if you want to land that first Java programming job, or if you rather want to be promoted to a more senior position. This would also be ideal if you’d like to obtain Oracle certification by passing those rigorous exams, or if you just want to be able to create your own Java apps.

Course Highlights

Acquire skills needed to be employable and get a job

Adequate preparation in order to write the Oracle Java examination

Start building Java apps quicker than in most cases

learn to code in Java

2. Java Programming: Solving Problems With Software

Coursera is an online education company which has partnered with more than 140 of the world’s best universities. On Coursera, anyone can access the online courses anywhere in order to acquire a skill.

This specialization in Coursera is offered by the Duke University, considered to be one of the best universities in America.

It was structured by Owen Astrachan, Robert Duvall, Susan H. Rodger and Andrew D. Hilton who are professors in the Computer Science Department at Duke University. This is one of the highly recommended courses at Coursera with around 114,590 students and a rating of 4.6 out of 5.

In this course the instructors explain the concepts clearly. You will learn the basics of Java syntax and how to write programs. The instructors also explain conditionals and loops in a Java program. Apart from that, you are guided on how to run BlueJ, the Java programming environment for this course.

You will also learn to debug a Java program using scientific methods as well as explore basic statistics in Java. This course also provides a clear explanation of OOP and its implementation in Java. This is one of the few courses that offers a good introduction to basic data types and their workings.

It is highly recommended as it helps you to move one step ahead in learning Java. This course is very informative and well explained. The programming assignments given are challenging and deal with real world data and problems which makes the course all the more useful.

By the end of the course you’d have learned to build your own programs, algorithms and small projects from scratch. At the end of each module, you will complete a lot of quizzes and practical assignments, which will help you apply the concepts in practice.

This course also has stats showing that 47% of the students enrolled in the program started a new career, 38% of the students got career benefits from the course and 13% of the learners got promoted or had a raise in pay.

Who Should Take This Course?

This course is a great start for beginners and for programmers who have minimal experience in Java. If you are looking to start from scratch or want to improve your skills to an intermediate level, this course is a perfect fit for you. It is a step forward for all beginners who aspire to become experts in Java programming.

Course Highlights

Tons of practice quizzes

Receive a certificate of completion

Learn how to run BlueJ a Java programming environment

Learn about debugging Java errors the scientific way

3. Java In Android

Coursera is one of the leading online educational platforms for training IT professionals and developers. This course is suitable for anyone who is interested in learning Android development.

This course from Coursera comes highly recommended and has a well-structured syllabus for Android development. This course is easily understandable, where the instructors start from basic concepts and dig their way to more advanced concepts.

It was designed by skilled, trained and experienced instructors from Vanderbilt University. Dr. Jerry Roth, Dr. Julie L. Johnson, Michael Walker, and Dr. Douglas C. Schmidt are professors from Vanderbilt University in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In this course, the instructors will take you to new heights in Android development.

The instructors begin with a step by step guide on how to setup an Android studio environment. It covers the basics of Java and how to write Java code in an object-oriented manner. You will also learn to build basic Android apps like assign values to variables and output them to the Android display using Java classes and methods.

You will also learn concepts like looping, condition statements, data structures, classes, interfaces, inheritance, and polymorphism.

At the end of the course, you will be assigned to do mini projects in Android. During the course duration, the instructors explain each concept practically and challenging assignments will be given at the end of the module to apply the concepts.

59% of the students enrolled in this program started a new career, 59% of the students got career benefits from the course and 25% of the learners got promoted or received a raise in pay.

Who Should Take This Course?

This is for anyone who wants to learn Android development. Be it a beginner or advanced programmer, the course will help you sharpen your skills in Android development. If you are interested in becoming an Android developer, this will be a step forward to attain your goal.

Course Highlights

Content taught by experienced tutors

Create your own mini projects in Android

Covering from basic to advanced stages of Java for Android development

learn Java programming from someone with real world experience

4. Java Fundamentals: The Java Language

Pluralsight is one of the best online education companies in the market that provides lots of video tutorials for developers and IT professionals. This course by PluralSight helps you go from basic fundamentals in Java, to more advanced concepts which are convenient for beginners.

The course is taught by one of the best and leading senior Java developers, Jim Wilson. He is the president of JW Hedgehog, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in solutions for the Android, iOS, and Microsoft platforms. He has 30 years of experience and specializes mainly in creating mobile apps and location-based solutions.

In his course, Jim explains everything you need to get started in Java Programming. He shows you how to set up a development environment for Java, and create a simple application using IntelliJ. You will also explore different Java packages, build a project, and run it using the NetBeans IDE.

It also covers key concepts like data types and various aspects of conditional logic in Java. Apart from that, you will also learn things related to exceptions and the role of error handling. This is a well-structured and easily understandable course that covers all the fundamental concepts of Java.

The course is comprised of 14 modules which span over a period of 7 hours and 42 minutes. It will be beneficial for you to understand the fundamentals of Java and to start creating your own applications. By the end of this course, you will be ready to work on Java environments building your own apps and becoming an effective Java programmer.

Who Should Take This Course?

This course is for absolute beginners and new programmers who want to learn Java from scratch and start building their own applications. If you want to become a Java developer but have no prior knowledge in Java or any other programming language, this course is the absolute right choice for you.

Course Highlights

Study plan is easy to follow

Taught by experienced professionals

Challenging assignments

You will learn Java programming to create your own app

No prior knowledge of Java is needed

5. Selenium WebDriver With Java Basics to Advanced Frameworks

This course was created by Rahul Shetty, a software professional with over 15 years of experience. Rahul has been teaching online and offline for quite a number of years. With his testing school he was able to offer over 300 training modules.

Rahul’s courses on Udemy enjoys an enrolment total of over 130,000 students, with over 49,000 reviews and a 4.5 instructor rating. Rahul has a passion to teach and that is what he promises to do in this course. To teach. Course spans over a period of 52 hours with 329 lectures.

Rahul has over 10 courses on the Udemy platform alone with those including courses like Web Automation Testing, Mobile Automation Testing, API Automation Testing and many similar quality courses in addition to the Core Java course.

Many glowing reviews from students who feel that the course deserves a 5-star rating as it has the ability to take you from a complete newbie with no knowledge of Java to one with both Java and Selenium knowledge. In this course you will be able to understand how to write code for mobiles by using Java and Web-Driver.

Basically, these are the things which you will learn in this course:

Basic concept about Selenium and Web Driver

Mobile automation in order to write code in Android Studio or similar

How to design frameworks and how to prepare for interviews regarding this

Complete Core Java language and web hosting applications

Who Should Take This Course?

This course is ideal for you if you would like to shift over to Java developer and learn mobile software development.

Course Highlights

Master Selenium Webdriver with over 100+ challenges

Learn to lead an entire Selenium automation project starting from design

Learn to design pageobject and datadriven frameworks

6. Introduction to Java Programming Language

EdX is one of the leading institutions worldwide that offers online courses for students. This course on EdX is recommended and was structured and is taught by professors from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

This is another self-paced course which consists of 3 modules. In the first module, the instructor explains the basic fundamentals of Java programming. Here, you will learn to design and develop projects using conditional loops. Apart from that you will also be exposed to core concepts like functional abstraction, the object-oriented programming (OOP) paradigm and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

In the next module, the instructor explains how to write code efficiently and begins with debugging. You will learn to detect and correct common errors. The instructor also shows how to test the programs. Apart from that, you will be introduced to basic principles of software engineering with the aim to improve robustness, modularity, reusability and maintainability of programs. This module also covers whether the program is written with ethical considerations.

The final module in this course covers lists, stacks, queues, trees, searching and sorting. In this module you will learn about fundamental data structures and its working in an efficient way. This module also includes how to arrange data on arrays and link lists using primitive data types and classes.

The instructors explain every concept in an easy and interactive way. By the end of this course, you will learn to write code effectively and efficiently. You will also have a clear understanding of fundamental data structures, such as sequences, algorithms, searching and sorting.

Who Should Take This Course?

This course is for beginners who want to start learning Java programming from scratch. This is an introductory course which begins with the basic fundamentals of Java and object-oriented programming concepts. If you are new to programming and want to become a Java developer or programmer, this course will help you in understanding the key concepts and offer a strong foundation for basic Java.

Prior Knowledge of Java programming is not required.

Course Highlights

Content taught by experts

Understand the basic fundamentals of Java

Touches on coding with ethical considerations

Challenging practice assignments and quizzes

7. Learn Java

Codecademy is an online interactive platform that offers coding classes for developers. This course is one of the most popular courses on Codecademy with around 2,360,524 students enrolled.

This comprehensive course takes you through learning Java from scratch. It then helps you move your way through to more advanced topics. It is one of the best ways for beginners to learn Java.

The course has over 5 modules and has over 15 hours of video content. You will learn the basics of the most popular programming language, Java. You will also learn about data types and their workings, about the core concepts of object-oriented programming in Java, and explore the syntax for defining classes and creating instances.

The course also covers conditionals and control flow in Java programs as well as show you how to build lists of data using arrays and array lists. There are a lot of quizzes that will help you in memorizing the syntax. You will also learn to build 7 interesting projects like mad libs, math magic, a basic calculator, and a simple car loan payment.

It will expose you to the basic fundamentals of Java and the core concepts of object-oriented programming. At the end of each module, you will be provided with lots of quizzes and projects to help you practice along the way.

This is a well-structured course that is easily understandable. Learn Java is one of the highly recommended courses for beginners and has the highest number of enrolments. After completing this course, you will be able to build your own projects and have a strong foundation in the basics of Java and OOP concepts.

Who Should Take This Course?

This course is for absolute beginners who are new to programming. Prior knowledge of programming is not needed. If you want to start your career in Java, this will be a perfect fit for you as it will help you start from basics and then dive deeper into more advanced topics. Basically, if you want to be a Java developer and have no idea where to start, this course is an ideal choice for you.

Course Highlights

No prerequisites

Start from the basics and go to advanced concepts

8. The Java Spring Tutorial: Learn Java’s Popular Web Framework

This course by John Purcell will teach you the fundamentals of the Java Spring framework. You will also understand the fundamentals regarding Hibernate and learn to develop databases and web applications using Spring.

John has been a software developer for over 14 years. He has worked for companies like Proquest and AT&T both in the UK and in the Netherlands. John’s courses pulled a whopping 1.5 million students with over 124,000 reviews and a 4.3 instructor rating.

John is an excellent instructor whose explanations are accurate and clear. In this course, he explains a lot of modules in the Spring framework. The instructor takes the course from basics to more advanced concepts which are easy to follow.

In this course he explains how to set up your system for Spring development and how to use Maven. He also covers working with databases using Spring and Hibernate. You will also learn to develop web and database applications with Spring MVC. Each concept is explained clearly with lots of examples. You will also learn how to use other technologies with spring like Apache Tiles, MySQL, and JQuery.

The course explains everything about Spring frameworks. His explanations are quite clear and easily understandable, and mainly focuses on web development using the Spring framework.

After completing this course, you will be able to develop your own applications in Java using Spring and Hibernate. This is one of John’s highly recommended courses, where he has designed the course structure from simple to more complex concepts and provides in depth explanation for server-side Spring configuration.

This highly rated course is comprised of 175 lectures which span over a time period of 28 hours.

Who Should Take This Course?

Are you familiar with Java but want to master the Spring framework? This course is a perfect fit for you. In this course you will learn the Spring framework in detail and to develop web and database applications using Spring.

Before enrolling in this course, it is required that you have prior knowledge in the Java programming language. It is also recommended that you are familiar with HTML, servlets and JSPs. It would be helpful if you are acquainted with XML and SQL databases, but it is not a definite must.

Course Highlights

Web development with Spring framework

Learn fundamentals of Hibernate and develop databases

9. Java Fundamentals: Collections

Pluralsight is an online learning platform that offers a variety of courses for software developers and IT professionals. This course is one of the highly rated courses by Richard Warburton who is the CTO at Opsian. He is an independent software developer and has a passion for teaching. Being an empirical technologist, he loves to solve technical problems.

This beginner friendly course covers the fundamentals of Java. In this course, Richard explains the importance of the collection framework in Java which is an essential topic in becoming a strong Java developer. He begins the course by explaining what collections are and shows the concept with a practical example.

In this module, Richard talks about defining and iterating collections and explains all the common characteristics that different collection classes have. You will also learn about collections with iteration orders. Queues, de-ques, and stacks are some of the common terms in Java and Richard explains each concept in a simple and easy to understand way.

Data being fundamental to any business, mastering Java collections will help you understand the working of data structures. By the end of this course you will be able to understand the power of lists, sets, maps and the importance of collections in Java programming. The course consists of 6 modules which spans over a time period of 4 hours and 2 minutes.

Who Should Take This Course?

This course is for beginner level programmers who want to learn about collection frameworks in Java. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or advanced, this course will help you have a strong foundation in collections, which is a key concept in Java programming. Looking to solidify your Java fundamentals? This course is perfect for you.

Course Highlights

Easy to understand

Learn basic Java Fundamentals

In-depth introduction to Java collections

10. Advanced Java Programming

Bethan Palmer is a developer and a well-known instructor on LinkedIn. She is a software developer at the Ministry of Justice in the UK. She completed her master’s in Computer Science Engineering at the University of Kent.

This course is categorized as an advanced level course on LinkedIn and has been viewed by 5,610 developers. In this course, Bethan digs into more advanced concepts, helping you explore your programming skills. She begins by explaining the version of Java being used and provides a step by step guide to install Netbeans IDE which is an open source IDE under the Apache project.

Here, you learn what generics are and explore the generic methods and its workings.
She explains in detail about the substitution principle, which is also known as the Liskov Substitution, a key concept in object-oriented programming.

You will also learn about the collection framework and its interfaces.

In this Advanced level course, you will learn

Implementing a queue with a LinkedList

Functional programming in Java

Multi-threading

Working with I/O in Java

Managing files and directories

This course covers over 8 modules in a time period of 1 hour and 55 minutes. This course also covers most of the advanced topics in Java programming to improve your skills in becoming an expert Java programmer.

Who Should Take This Course?

This course is perfect for you if you are an advanced programmer who want to dive deeper into more advanced concepts of Java programming. Like any other advanced Java course, it is required of you to have prior knowledge in Java programming.

If you’re looking to start your career as a Java programmer, this course is an ideal choice for you to strengthen the key concepts in Java and master some of the more advanced topics in Java.

Course Highlights

Working with I/O in Java

Dive into the Liskov Substitution principle

11. Object Oriented Programming in Java

Yet another successful course from Coursera. This is one of the highly recommended and highly rated courses from Coursera by Duke University. This course is well structured and designed by professors Mia Minnes, Christine Alvarado Leo Porter who are all in the Computer Science and Engineering Department.

This is an exceptional course for intermediate learners to explore the core OOP concepts. In this course, you will learn the basics of object-oriented programming in Java. You will jump straight into objects and designing classes and get started on building your own projects.

The instructor explains about memory models, scopes and helps you in building a project in Java programming. This is a great course for learning about object-oriented concepts of inheritance, polymorphism, casting classes, sorting and data structures.

You will also learn to use the existing libraries and build a graphical user interface. Furthermore, you will get to explore the core algorithms to search and sort data. The course takes about 6 weeks to complete when you put in 4 to 6 hours of effort per week. Around 161,142 students have enrolled in this program and it is one of the highest rated programs on Coursera with an average rating of 4.6 out of 5.

This program also has stats showing how beneficial this course is for an individual. 38% of the enrolled students started a new career after completing this course, 35% got a tangible career benefit from this course and 14% of the people who completed this course got a raise in pay or advanced in their career.

This course will help you have a solid idea of complex OOP concepts. It is highly recommended for people who want to explore Java programming or OOP.

Who Should Take This Course?

This is an intermediate Java course which requires prior knowledge in any software development. If you are looking to learn object-oriented programming, data structures and working with APIs, it is a perfect fit in order to solidify your skills.

Course Highlights

Practice quizzes and challenging assignments

Certificate of completion

Instructor sharpens your understanding of OOP concepts

Self-paced learning option

12. Java Fundamentals: Concurrency with Multi-threading

This is another highly recommended course on PluralSight, a leading online education company that offers video training for programmers and developers for honing their skills.

This course is taught by one of the experienced senior developers, David Flynn. He has a Bachelor’s in Computer Science and is a certified SCJP and OCM Java programmer. David specializes in the banking sector and has more than 11+ years of experience.

David begins by explaining the basic definition of threading and concurrency and moves on to the implementation of threads in Java. He makes sure you understand the issues while sharing memory between parts of a multi-threaded program. You will learn to create and manage threads. You will also cover topics like handling uncaught and unchecked exceptions, and thread local variables among others.

David shows how to safely communicate and share data between the threads and avoid deadlock issues. Apart from that he also explains about thread signalling and thread pools.

By the end of the course you will be able to write multi-threaded software and have a strong foundation in concurrency with multi-threading.

Who Should Take This Course?

This course is for you if you have started learning the Java fundamentals or you have been using it for a while but want to hone your skills on concurrency with multit-hreading in Java. The course is for programmers who have prior knowledge in Java programming like the basic fundamentals of Java.

Course Highlights

Practice questions

You will learn to write multi-threaded software with ease

What’s the Best Way to Learn Java?

While you can certainly work from a book, the best way to learn Java is generally from an online course. Courses from platforms like Coursera, Udemy, eDx, and others offer highly experienced professors and utilize working examples and tutorials. This gives the student a great way to understand all of the key concepts.

Why Learn Java?

If you look at the history of Java, you’ll see that it has been around for quite a while. Originally developed at Sun Microsystems in 1991, they wanted to develop a programming language for small devices like TVs, and VCRs. The goal was to make a portable small programming language which originally was known as AWK. It was released as Java in 1995

When Java was first released, its developers wrote a white paper justifying a new programming language, and in that white paper they described Java as simple object-oriented programming (OOP), portable, distributed and secure. To an extent these qualifiers correctly describe the programming language.

Java is a simple programming language offering all the functionalities of the C++ language. The number of language constructs is small compared to most other programming languages. They decided to remove some of the features of C++, like pointers, structs, type def and define.

Java is purely object oriented, unlike C++, which only supports object orientation. Java works with its data as objects and with interfaces to these objects.

Java is considered a distributed programming language. It has extensive support for TCP/IP as well as have network capabilities.

It also contains library routines for HTTP, FTP etc.

Java is a secure language. It does not have low level functions and file access can be restricted through the program. When you run code, the interpreter verifies the bytecode and these features make Java more secure.

Conclusion

There are over a thousand courses for learning the Java programming language on the internet. However, these are some of those considered to be of the best online Java courses by expert instructors. Java is one of the popular programming languages and is the primary language for many developers. Also, the demand for Java developers continues to grow high.

Learning Java will help you in your career growth or carve you a career as a Java developer. Acquiring this skill, you will have enough opportunities to land yourself a job in Java development.